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YouTubeWhat may we learn from populations where the rate of colon cancer is 50 times lower than the rate in USA? What do they eat?
Articles by Dr Greger:
- Colon Cancer — overview article.
- (2017) Fifty Times Lower Colon Cancer Risk.
- (2019) The Answer to a Colon Cancer Mystery.
- (2015) Colon Cancer Prevention: Is it the Fiber or the Phytates?
Colon cancer is significantly low in Africans in Africa and those in West. Why? Unprocessed plant foods with lots of fiber is believed to protect us from colon cancer.
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "What would happen within just two weeks if you swapped the diets of Americans with that of healthier eaters?" This video summarizes a fascinating study in which residents of rural Africa were asked to consume a typical 'Standard American Diet' for 2 weeks. At the same time, a group of Americans were asked to eat what the rural African eats.
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Even though modern African diets may now be as miserably low in fiber as American diets, Africans still appear to have 50 times less colorectal cancer than Americans (our second leading cancer killer)."
(5 mins) Transcript.
(2 mins) Transcript. This video explains the relationship between our stools and incidence of various chronic diseases, especially colon cancer.
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger explains that higher levels of fiber intake are associated with lower breast cancer rates. This relationship is non-linear (see offset 4:33 in the video for a chart). Towards the end, Dr Greger hints that we should aim for upwards of 60 to 80 grams of fiber per day.
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "The reason why women who have more frequent bowel movements appear to be at lower risk for breast cancer may be because bile acids absorbed from our intestines concentrate in the breast and have a estrogen-like tumor promoting effect."
(5 mins) Transcript. Women with very few bowel movements per week are at higher risk of developing breast cancer? Is there a direct connection between the two? Dr Greger explains that constipation means greater contact time between our waste and our intestinal wall — this may increase the formation and absorption of 'fecal mutagens' (substances that cause DNA mutations and cancer) into the circulation, and they could end up in breast tissue. Dr Greger then summarizes fascinating research papers that shed light on various steps in this pathway.
Which Vegetable Binds Bile Best? (3 mins, 2014) lists veggies that are best at removing carcinogenic bile acids from our body: beet, okra, kale, collards, brussels sprouts, carrots, eggplant, broccoli, mustard greens, …
(3 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Which foods are best at removing carcinogenic bile acids from the body: asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, eggplant, green beans, kale, mustard greens, okra, or peppers? And do they work better raw or cooked?"
Fiber is not found in animal products! Fiber is found exclusively in plants. So if we wish to maximize our fiber intake, we should replace all calories from animal products by plant foods. Also, fiber is not found in extracts like refined sugars (carbohydrate extracts) and oils (fat extracts). So in order to maximize fiber intake, we may choose to forego both refined sugars and oils. And finally, processed foods made from plants are often fiber deficient (or fiber disrupted). So we have to read food labels carefully to make sure that processed foods have sufficient fiber. Dr Greger has a 5:1 rule for packaged foods. Finally, we also lose fiber if we remove the outer layers of whole grains, beans and various fruits and veggies.
In an nutshell, in order to maximize fiber intake, we may choose to forego processed foods altogether and focus on intake of fruits, veggies, whole grains and beans in their whole form. This is exactly what a Whole Food Plant-Based strives to do.
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